Sammamish Boys Sprinting Ahead In Kingco Track

The Sammamish High School girls' track team has had the winning combination all season, but now the Totem boys are beginning to assert themselves.

Les Matthews, Dave Paup, Josh Mathis and Travis Glem have caused opposing coaches to respect Coach Les Black's squad.

Matthews wasn't running in top form yesterday, but he won all four events he entered in the annual Bellevue city championships on the Sammamish track.

And with Paup sweeping titles in the shot and javelin and taking third in the discus, the Totems were not to be stopped. They outscored Newport 90-78, with Interlake taking third with 64. Bellevue had 50.

``The last time Sammamish won KingCo was 1983, my first year,'' said Black, who moved up to head coach this spring.

The KingCo championships start Wednesday and conclude Friday at Redmond. The Mustangs won the Shoreline invitational last Saturday, but Redmond Coach Jim Zatloukal is wary of the Totems. He anticipates they will score big points, just as they did yesterday.

``I would look at Sammamish. They have big points from Matthews, and Glem is a high jumper, pole vaulter and hurdler,'' Zatloukal said.

Issaquah Coach Gwen Robertson agreed, saying Matthews' sprint points will be hard to overcome. Matthews won the 100, 200 and long jump as well as anchored the Totems' winning 1,600-meter relay. His 11.1-second 100 was the third time in a row he has run that fast but is short of his season-best 10.9.

Juanita's Carmi Bruton has done 10.8, but they have not met.

``I hope he's well next week. I'm looking forward to the competition,'' Matthews said. He also said he is a bit tired at this point in the season.

``I'm going to get some rest, get to bed earlier, and I don't think I'll work next week.''

Matthews heads for his job after practice and usually works till 10 p.m.

Matthews is looking beyond KingCo as well.

``Coming off my sophomore season, I wanted to be one of the fastest sprinters in the state my senior year. Les Black has helped me a lot, with training and in attitude.''

Mathis, a distance runner, ran the anchor leg on Sammamish's mile relay.

``I'm not actually sure what my best event is. This year the 800 is pretty weak; that's probably where I'll run. I don't think Bard Zajac (of Issaquah) will triple.''

Mathis took second to Bellevue's Scott Koch in the 1,600 meters yesterday, while teammate Andrew McKenzie won the 800.

Glem didn't compete in the high jump, where his 6-5 is the league best, but placed third in the pole vault (12-0), another event in which he should score KingCo points.

Newport's Russell Hairston won the 110 hurdles for the third straight year. His 14.7 clocking with one-tenth off the meet record.

The day's most exciting race was in the girls' 300 hurdles, where state leader Tiffany Paup of Sammamish almost was beaten by Newport sophomore Liz Stephens.

Stephens caught Paup with two hurdles to go, but Paup opened a half-yard gap at the wire. They were given identical 46.5-second clockings.

Paup's teammate, Kelsey Stellick, set the lone meet record. She won the 110 hurdles, beating Stephens in 15.4.

Stellick also won the javelin with a state-best 146-5 as she led Sammamish, winner of the Pasco and Lake Washington invitationals, to victory by a 96-85 margin over Interlake.

Interlake competed without its coach, Cliff Nixon, who suffered a pre-meet tragedy when his wife, Alice, 54, died of a heart attack at home yesterday morning.

Interlake tied the meet mark in the 800 relay, with Taise Grandison anchoring a 1:47.1 effort.